HELP with electrical vodoo

Roxtar

Advanced Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2021
Posts
54
Location
Los Alamos, NM
Recently purchased this 2011 XTRA Toy Hauler and was putting the finishing touches on the new solar system. Hooked the battery into the system and started a fast voltage drain. Disconnected and started looking for the short.
Not finding anything but ohmmeter keeps showing connection between + & -.
After trying everything either myself or google can come up with I finally just removed every connection from the circuit board; both the positive and ground cables and all the fuses. This (according to my limited electrical knowledge) should take away any possible connection between the main hot and ground posts.
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As you can see from the rear view there is a definite air gap between the ground lug on the bottom right and the positive lug on the bottom left. No connection whatsoever between them:
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And yet...
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I even tried a different ohmmeter.
How is this possible?
 

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Couple questions. 1. Was there a problem before you added the solar array? 2. Did you hook up your array to a solar controller before connecting it to the trailer electrical system? 3. What are those pictures of (converter board or solar controller board)?

Normally when adding a solar array, you go through a solar controller, then directly to the battery. The reason is the solar array will be sending out 18-24 volts and it needs to be knocked down to 12-13 volts by the controller before adding it to the trailer DC system.
 
Those pictures were the circuit board from the RV. The solar system was installed correctly and I found the problem.

You know how high quality battery cables have super fine individual strands? And in stripping those you get little tiny pieces of those strands?
When I looked real close I found one of those tiny little strands stuck to t he negative terminal connecting across.
So small that it's hard to believe it didn't burn up when it's shorted
 

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